• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Travel Trailer Rehab Project

kelly.jayp

kelly.jayp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2017
Messages
1,473
Location
Charlotte, NC area
ok - so Dan aka @GunsightMountain - who never posts here - and I have scored a 31' Fleetwood Wilderness Travel Trailer built in 2001. For free. This thread will be my journal of getting it ready to become our hunting camp - to park at our lease and to eventually start making trips out west to mule deer / elk hunt. And of course - the plan is to bring this to SP next year!!

Initial findings when we met with owner to size it up and make the decision if we wanted it. were:
Everything works including electric slide out and frame / tires / axles are all in good shape.
Other impressions were: Roof needs to be repaired / redone which led to substantial water damage in front bedroom so also need to gut that. Floor by door was rotted out. Trash all the mattresses / sofa bed, dinette cushions & carpet. Clean the HVAC and rip out plumbing (the previous owner put anti-freeze in fresh water tank) :confused:. There is some water marks behind microwave we needed to check into as well. Rest of kitchen and bathroom looked ok.
 
edf6aa3f58a4715a1ea7678480e2c0e5.jpg
55c8c5d287959cff6a694ee972c88c4b.jpg
2ffe1af16ddf423186a9dde9f0516194.jpg
26a2e00bcb3337190d9cd39e0441ad82.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
DANG! good deal!

check all rafters and repair the repair the roof ASAP
after that take it on one step at a time! I have one sitting in my yard I started and lost interest in when the project got to big Nothing with a outer shell near as nice as yours. you will have something nice when your finished
 
Why don’t you get it weather tight & get too busy, then I’ll take it off your hands ( in trade for the latest & greatest new shiny saddle object of the month)
 
Acquisition day: June 11
DEMO DAY 1: June 17 ~ 8?man hours
Roof area in front is very bad. Ripped out couch and cushions and began demo on front bedroom - which was saturated. We knew this - but it progressively got more severe. We knew this room was a complete tear down, and so we ripped out the bed platform cabinetry and carpet - then began on the walls. Quickly found insulation and luan were like sponges - as we pulled up carpet found the subfloor was so wet it came apart in wads. Standing water in floors. Which is where most of the wiring is sitting. The floor joists / wall studs are totally worthless. Ended up taking the luan on the walls all the way out to the outer shell. The ceiling is same story - the roof leak was big and plywood roof is bad at least through the majority of the bedroom - we did not finish demoing this room out but have it 75% done. Insects were bad - spiders, mites, mosquitoes, ants. And yes - it did smell awful. Floor damage traced all the way to the door and into the start of the kitchen cabinetry.
We also had to pull out the dinette to remove the carpet and then put it back in. Rear bunks looked fine - just a beefier platform needed. Bathroom - started to explore the shower - ripped out the surround and found water damage on walls behind. Had to leave that for next demo day. Tore out cabinet by door that served as TV stand - turns out cabinets are not really cabinets - just framing with some facing - which now means when we pull cabinets in kitchen out to see where else there is water damage we will have to replace them. Found water damage behind microwave and hoping it does not go behind fridge. Battery appears to be shot too. Day 1 ended on a low note and us questioning our decision. A shower and good night's rest had us re-energized. Planning on continuing demo a couple hours next 2 days
 
Last edited:
I would nuke it for several hours with a commercial ozone generator before doing much more to avoid breathing mold spores. Had a similar project years ago and turned out nice in the end.

John H.
 
Redone a 2003 with damage very much like yours dont, get discouraged. Mine had water damage to the rear roof, back wall side wall and beam over the slide out. good luck
 
I’m fortunate in that Dan is a contractor - we will save about 1.5k each in motels this coming season if we finish


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Those roofs go to quick if not taken care of. If people aren’t paying attention a $20k camper becomes a give away pretty quick.

Hard work pays off. Can’t wait to see the result


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gator said:
Those roofs go to quick if not taken care of. If people aren’t paying attention a $20k camper becomes a give away pretty quick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Seriously!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can smell that thing from here! Haha! I’m confident you guys will have it good as new when you’re done. We did almost the exact same thing back in 2013 and got a ton of use from that camper before it was stolen last year. We are currently working on a new cargo trailer to replace it.


Tethrd-Ginger Ninja/Fire Crotch Fiddler
 
Demo Day 2 June 20. 6 man hours. Kept removing walls in front bedroom as well as the floor and ceiling. There are sections of framing to rip out but most of roof framing is still salvageable. Floor framing is destroyed. Still have to finish removing the flooring down to the vinyl barrier.

Also removed kitchen cabinets and started walls behind kitchen. Looks like the water damage does not go behind fridge. Water system looks pretty easy to redo. Will be ripping that out next time.

Filled a dump trailer and still have piles to go.

Feel like we are close to end of demo and still enthusiastic
14d4de57e94d1d755e597c9e2c03c137.jpg
e73d6cb9e0b06328f7b7d478803b4fb0.jpg
d9b7430d038112c8614de2bbae4529d1.jpg
054a3881c5993ef456083b4387e3e949.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
June 24 - 5 1/2 more man hours on demo. Removed partition walls in front bedroom and OSB floor and insulation. Have some joists to cut and remove as well still and still see wet insulation under the furnace ducts, so we need to get under there too. Began removing shower walls and vinyl flooring in bathroom. Water damage there is not as bad. Also tore out stove (which is still in good shape) / water heater (trash) / water pump (trash) / kitchen plumbing (trash) to get to floor - which shows water damage over to the fridge. Looking like we may have to remove fridge. Will start with removing the vent to see but had hoped to not have to remove the whole thing. Still grinding to get to the end of demo. We do believe demo will be the hardest part of this whole thing. Man I hope I'm not wrong!

Next priority is the roof. Going over this whole EPDM vs TPO vs Flex Armor. Have an opinion? Let me know. I'm sure Flex Armor is going to be pricey, but it's the clear winner in longevity. Just not sure we need to spend that. Price quote is still pending, and they install it at their site. Some of our other plans are to put all new plumbing system in, including tankless water heater. Debating on the stove - it's in good shape but we can't imagine using an oven. If you have an RV / camper and have an opinion on this let me know. I'd like to not buy another appliance, so debating on a cooktop only.
 
I also don’t see the need for an oven in a camper, we have a microwave, griddle & toaster oven at our cabin & can pull off about every thing we need that’s not open flame & can still add other campfire recipes if need be......... my 2 cents.
 
ended up ordering Superflex (TPO) for the roof. First $ has been spent. $433 for 35' was too good and it has good reviews, better durability than the EPDM
 
Bigterp said:
I also don’t see the need for an oven in a camper, we have a microwave, griddle & toaster oven at our cabin & can pull off about every thing we need that’s not open flame & can still add other campfire recipes if need be......... my 2 cents.
Click to expand...
agree with all this. If we decide not to spend the money on a new cooktop at least we know existing stove / range works and the oven can become storage - it's not that heavy so this one will come down to budget.
 
June 26 5 1/2 man hours. Tore out furnace duct work and flooring in kitchen area where the water heater and fuse panel were. More water... it keeps going back to the opposite end. It also continue out toward the slide. Just trying to get to where there is no more wet insulation - not there yet. So next will be remove the furnace and fridge and tear out the closets and shower walls. Also replaced the battery and terminals today so added 130 to the investment. The slide out relay is not working so on June 27 Dan figured out how to manually move it out. Now we can keep exploring the floors for where the water keeps going. Man demo just doesn’t want to end. Noticed tire treads are toast so can add that to the list. Finally got a tarp up on the it while we await the new roof - almost fell through the roof into the bedroom where the framing had rotted out but made the save. Fun times. Rolled the rag of an awning out to get ready for the new roof. We will have to start taking everything off the roof next week to prep for that. Work to do everywhere you look. Just to finish demo. Still excited about closing in on that milestone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top